The field of the invention is electrical apparatus and the invention relates more particularly to the maintenance of connectors used in electrical transmission lines.
In order to protect the point of connection of an electrical cable to a transmission line, a housing commonly referred to as a "pothead" is often used for conductor sizes between 750 and 1000 kcmil. A pothead includes an aluminum housing and the insulated cable passes downwardly from the bottom of the housing. The bottom of the housing includes a rubber seal ring which is held to the bottom of the housing by a sealing plate. The pothead housing is filled with a dielectric compound and, when the cable is not oriented directly downwardly from the pothead housing, the dielectric compound can leak out. In order to protect the connection and to prevent further leakage, the pothead often had to be replaced. The cost of replacement involved a substantial cost both in materials and, more importantly, in labor. The transmission line must be de-energized during the repair and this can cause an interruption of service. The amount of time for this service thus should be minimized as much as possible. There is, thus, a need for a method of repairing a pothead from which part of the compound has leaked out which does not involve the entire replacement of the pothead and which can be quickly done.